1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ornamental panel, particularly to an ornamental panel used in automobiles such as a Garnish fitted between rear combination lamps at a car rear end.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. 1-275235, 275235, which has been laid open to public inspection on Nov. 2, 1989, discloses an ornamental panel for automobiles.
This ornamental panel has a rear surface of a transparent synthetic resin base divided into two or more areas. Adjacent areas thereof are applied with different colors of paint , that is colorless clear paint or colored clear paint, thereby forming base coat layers respectively. A metal reflecting layer is provided on surfaces of the base coat layers. A protective layer is coated on a surface of the metal reflective layer. Thus the ornamental panel shows a deep and profound interior as well as a variety of metallic appearances while using one synthetic resin.
However, the ornamental panel of the above publication can be easily be affected by dust or the like in manufacturing. In this case, the products will become defective. Namely, if dust or the like is stuck on the base or the base coat layer, both of which are transparent or colored-transparent, the dust thereon is conspicuous and spoils the appearance of the product. Moreover, it takes a considerable amount of time to recoat three layers: the base coat layer, the metal reflective layer and the protective layer. Thereby possibly adversely affecting the productivity. Furthermore, if there arises unevenness in painting each layer, then the tones of the product cannot be uniformly maintained with each other.
Specially, conventional ornamental panels for automobiles such as garnishes cannot be the same tone as that of rear combination lamps between which the panel is arranged. Namely, it is hard to match the colors thereof.
Japanese Laid Open Utility Model Publication No. 63-96952, which has been laid open to public inspection on Jun. 23, 1988, discloses another ornamental panel for automobiles.
The ornamental panel is fitted next to rear combination lamps. A finisher lens is attached integrally to a housing. The finisher lens is the same color and has the same cut as those of the lamps. The housing has a reflecting surface which has vertically extending notches and reflecting paint coated thereon.
However, in the above ornamental panel, the outer finisher lens has its inside surface formed with concavoconvex pattern of a dimension larger than that of the notches of the inner housing. Therefore, when the finisher lens is made of a synthetic resin, it is possible that shrinkage is brought forth on the outside surface of the finisher lens, thereby spoiling its appearance.
Still another ornamental panel for automobiles are shown in FIG. 7.
FIG. 5 shows a rear perspective view of an ornamental panel assembled to an automobile body. FIG. 6 illustrates a cross section of rear combination lamps of an automobile. FIG. 7 shows a cross section of a conventional ornamental panel for automobiles such as garnishes.
Rear combination lamps 31 are disposed at opposite corners of a rear end of an automobile 40. Generally, ornamental panels or garnishes 30 are arranged between the rear combination lamps 31, intending to look like additional rear combination lamps disposed next to the real rear combination lamps 31.
As shown in FIG. 6, common rear combination lamps 31 have a triplex structure: a cover lens 35 formed with a fisheye lens as an outermost cover, a Fresnel lens 32 disposed inside the cover lens 35 and a base 33 supporting a lamp 34 thereon. The apparent depth of the interior of a rear combination lamp 31 is determined by the number of lens. Thereby the ornamental panel, which is constructed as above, cannot present an appearance of interior depth similar to that of the lamps 31.
The ornamental panel shown in FIG. 7 has a triplex structure: a cover lens 41 formed with a fisheye lens, a Fresnel lens 42 disposed inside the cover lens 41 and a base 43. Further, a metallic film 44 is coated on an inside surface of the base 43. However, the ornamental panel needs the Fresnel lens 42 in order to make its appearance similar to the lamps 31. Therefore, it requires a lot of labor and time to manufacture the panel. Thus, there is a need for improvement in the productivity and manufacturing costs of ornamental panels.